08-17-2006, 04:00 PM
The perilous nexus between the media and political parties
It would be fair to say that our country is experiencing the greatest media revolution it ever had before since independence. The contemporary media looks like playing safe by associating itself with a particular political ideology or may be they donât have any option. Personally, I refuse to buy that reason. There is a difference between relationship with politics and relationship with political parties. It is very much legitimate on part of the media to observe objectively the activities of politics and reporting the news and events to the audience without distorting the facts. When I say that the relationship of the media with political parties is dangerous then I mean to imply that the odds and ends are far more precarious than anything else.
We talk about self-regulation for almost all business verticals in our country but what about the media which is also an industry and the entities are incorporated with the prime motive to earn profits and not to forget the TRPs? Profit is not a bad word but I still believe that one can stick to social and business values and still run business in profits. It applies to media all the more as it is the mirror of society and carries a greater onus of reporting the truth and facts as they happen.
A classic example of how media and political parties can influence each other is as follows:
NDTVâs Chairman and President Dr. Prannoy Roy (no offence whatsoever) married Radhika Roy who is Brinda Karat's (Prakash Karat's wife) sister. Brinda and Prakash both are politburo members of the CPI (M). It is rumored that Prannoy Roy's seed capital for NDTV came from the comfy relationship he had with Bhaskar Ghose, then Doordarshan's head honcho. DD was fond of doing business with Roy at the exclusion of other contenders, which fondness Roy exploited to the detriment of DD's revenues but to his own advantage. Rajdeep Sardesai, former test cricketer Dilip Sardesai's son and was an anchor at NDTV, is married to Bhaskar Ghose's daughter Sagarika Ghose who writes columns for the Indian Express. Indian Express' Shekhar Gupta in return hosts a talk show on NDTV. Last but not the least, the stylish and sophisticated Dr. Prannoy Roy was known to be close to Rajiv Gandhi and now Sonia.
No wonder that the channel that initially hounded Natwar Singh on the Volcker Scam had raised its doubts on the opposition partyâs intention of joining hands with Natwar Singh. Whoever has watched the parliament proceedings (I know most of us donât waste time watching such a silly drama on TV) on DD will agree that the Speaker is clearly partial towards the government. To my surprise and utter dismay none of the channels condemned or gave an impartial reporting on that issue. Most of the talk shows and debates telecast are finely orchestrated to suit their favoritesâ (Communists and Congress) interests.
The danger is clear. In the garb of sophistication, highly educated image, the image of holding high moral and social values these channels are cleverly selling the ideology of their favorites. They definitely wouldnât like to be called mouthpieces. Therefore, this veil of intelligence and urbanity is a clever trick. I wonder why these so called âmodern and liberalâ channels havenât highlighted grave issues like illegal immigration from Bangladesh, Kashmiri Punditsâ lives as refugees in their own country, criminals in politics, vote bank politics in the name of caste, poor infrastructure etc? The amount of time or space given to these issues is either nil or very less, unless of course something like floods or other natural calamities strike in case of poor infrastructure. The worse thing is that these channels and newspapers do not shy away from covering âBâ grade or âCâ grade actorsâ wedding ceremonies, Saurav Gangulyâs future in Indian cricket team, how many wives does a popular Bollywood singer has, the divorce drama between former leading Bollywood actress and her husband, vulgarity in a âCâ grade music album etc. No wonder people like Govinda are MPs. This is the kind of peril that media can make happen. I wouldnât even suggest them to have reality checks or introspection for Iâm sure that the kind of people that are in media are highly educated and whatever they are doing is their conscious decision.
Will the Indian media ever emerge above these inconsequentiality and nepotism? Save the nation!
It would be fair to say that our country is experiencing the greatest media revolution it ever had before since independence. The contemporary media looks like playing safe by associating itself with a particular political ideology or may be they donât have any option. Personally, I refuse to buy that reason. There is a difference between relationship with politics and relationship with political parties. It is very much legitimate on part of the media to observe objectively the activities of politics and reporting the news and events to the audience without distorting the facts. When I say that the relationship of the media with political parties is dangerous then I mean to imply that the odds and ends are far more precarious than anything else.
We talk about self-regulation for almost all business verticals in our country but what about the media which is also an industry and the entities are incorporated with the prime motive to earn profits and not to forget the TRPs? Profit is not a bad word but I still believe that one can stick to social and business values and still run business in profits. It applies to media all the more as it is the mirror of society and carries a greater onus of reporting the truth and facts as they happen.
A classic example of how media and political parties can influence each other is as follows:
NDTVâs Chairman and President Dr. Prannoy Roy (no offence whatsoever) married Radhika Roy who is Brinda Karat's (Prakash Karat's wife) sister. Brinda and Prakash both are politburo members of the CPI (M). It is rumored that Prannoy Roy's seed capital for NDTV came from the comfy relationship he had with Bhaskar Ghose, then Doordarshan's head honcho. DD was fond of doing business with Roy at the exclusion of other contenders, which fondness Roy exploited to the detriment of DD's revenues but to his own advantage. Rajdeep Sardesai, former test cricketer Dilip Sardesai's son and was an anchor at NDTV, is married to Bhaskar Ghose's daughter Sagarika Ghose who writes columns for the Indian Express. Indian Express' Shekhar Gupta in return hosts a talk show on NDTV. Last but not the least, the stylish and sophisticated Dr. Prannoy Roy was known to be close to Rajiv Gandhi and now Sonia.
No wonder that the channel that initially hounded Natwar Singh on the Volcker Scam had raised its doubts on the opposition partyâs intention of joining hands with Natwar Singh. Whoever has watched the parliament proceedings (I know most of us donât waste time watching such a silly drama on TV) on DD will agree that the Speaker is clearly partial towards the government. To my surprise and utter dismay none of the channels condemned or gave an impartial reporting on that issue. Most of the talk shows and debates telecast are finely orchestrated to suit their favoritesâ (Communists and Congress) interests.
The danger is clear. In the garb of sophistication, highly educated image, the image of holding high moral and social values these channels are cleverly selling the ideology of their favorites. They definitely wouldnât like to be called mouthpieces. Therefore, this veil of intelligence and urbanity is a clever trick. I wonder why these so called âmodern and liberalâ channels havenât highlighted grave issues like illegal immigration from Bangladesh, Kashmiri Punditsâ lives as refugees in their own country, criminals in politics, vote bank politics in the name of caste, poor infrastructure etc? The amount of time or space given to these issues is either nil or very less, unless of course something like floods or other natural calamities strike in case of poor infrastructure. The worse thing is that these channels and newspapers do not shy away from covering âBâ grade or âCâ grade actorsâ wedding ceremonies, Saurav Gangulyâs future in Indian cricket team, how many wives does a popular Bollywood singer has, the divorce drama between former leading Bollywood actress and her husband, vulgarity in a âCâ grade music album etc. No wonder people like Govinda are MPs. This is the kind of peril that media can make happen. I wouldnât even suggest them to have reality checks or introspection for Iâm sure that the kind of people that are in media are highly educated and whatever they are doing is their conscious decision.
Will the Indian media ever emerge above these inconsequentiality and nepotism? Save the nation!
